ASSESSMENT OF PACKAGING PRACTICE AND ITS

IMPLICATION ON GREEN MARKETING IN SEBETA

AGRO-INDUSTRY (MAMA) P.L.C.

Abayneh Mulugeta
Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Business
SMUC

Abstract

This paper aimed at assessing the impact of packaging on green marketing practice. The
data classification was more descriptive. Data collection was made through the use
questionnaires, interview, and observation. The sampling technique employed for the
customers was convenient sampling technique. A total of 250 copies of questionnaires
were distributed and 202 were collected back, representing a response rate of 80.08%.
The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. The results revealed that the
packaging material of the products are not biodegradable, not eco-friendly, not reusable,
not refilled, not recycled and cannot be reduced, but the company puts instructions on
how to dispose the package on some of its products. Findings, implications and
recommendations for managerial practices are discussed and put forwarded.

Introduction
Change is occurring at an accelerating rate; today is not like yesterday, and
tomorrow will be different from today. Continuing today’s strategy is risky; so is
turning to a new strategy. Therefore, the strategy employed has to do with a drive
to turn a private or social need into a profitable business opportunity through
marketing. Marketing management deals with managerial decisions on product
lines and brands, namely, the characteristics of products, the way a company
builds and manages its product mix and product lines, how a company makes
better brand decisions, and how the company’s packaging and labeling should be
used as its marketing tools.

The company should consider basic brand decisions and key packaging and
labeling issues. Three elements - product, services, and price - must be meshed
into a competitively attractive offering if the company wants to perform well in the
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marketplace. Marketers plan their market offering at five levels. These are: the
core benefit (the fundamental service or benefit); a basic product; an expected
product (a set of attributes and conditions that buyers normally expect when they
buy the product); an augmented product that exceeds customer’s expectations; the
potential product, which encompasses all of the possible augmentations and
transformations the product might undergo in the future (Kotler, 2000). Thus, the
marketer or the company searches for entirely new ways to satisfy its customers
and distinguish its offer. One of the ways is packaging.

Kotler (2006) states packaging has involved designing and producing the
container or the wrapper for a product. Besides, it can and may include a
product’s primary container, secondary package that is thrown away when the
product is about to be used and a shipping package which is necessary to store
and to ship the product. According to him, nowadays, the function of packaging
becomes broader than contain and protect the product because of increased
competition and clutter on retail store shelves.

Companies should realize the power of good packaging to create instant consumer
recognition in attracting attention, to describe the product, and to make the sale of
the company or the brand. William et al. (2000) also note the strategic importance
of packaging. According to the same authors, promoting the product and
protecting the product are the two key functions of packaging. In one sense,
packaging is a key element to present the product to the consumer. In another
sense, it is essential to protect the product when it travels through the distribution
channel until it reaches the final consumer.

Regardless of the above-stated functions, packaging provides a promotional

message about the product and it is important to both sellers and customers.
Therefore, it is imperative to understand the use of packaging which is broad and

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diverse. However, the company should and must consider the growing
environmental pollution and social concerns before making packaging decisions.

In this regard, S.M. JHA (2005) poses different questions related to environmental
disaster, population explosion, socio-cultural confrontation, tension and
dissension. The author asked such questions as: Do we feel that the development
activities channelized during the 20th century would open doors for social interests
in the 21st century? Do we feel that the industrial development process of today is
not to engineer a sound foundation for slow murder of the coming generation? Do
we feel that the planet earth would remain safe tomorrow? The answers for these
questions should be positive. It is generally believed that the development
programmers should not pave ways for the long-run dangers.

The concept of societal marketing gives a lot of homework for the producers on
their production, distribution, and packaging activities. Kotler (2006) further
elaborates societal marketing as it is all about questioning whether the pure
marketing concept overlooks possible conflicts between consumer short-run
wants and consumer long-run welfare or not. For Philip Kotler, marketing
strategy should deliver value to customers in a way that maintains or improves
both the consumer’s and the society’s well-being. Therefore, most of the
manufacturing and service industries are directly or indirectly found engaged in
the process of endangering the social interest of their consumers.

Over the years, business and industry, financial institutions and the general
public have been more talked about green issues. There has been much
discussion about the environment and the damaging effects produced by
everyday activities. Extensive environmental damage has been caused by
continuous consumption, marketing, manufacturing, processing and polluting,
along with several environmental disasters. Therefore, there are various

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responses to green issues that companies have adopted which include green
product promotion, green marketing, environmental management and aiming for
sustainability (Saha & Darnton, 2005).

Green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be

environmentally safe (Green International Inc., 2008). Green, environmental
and eco-marketing approaches are new marketing approaches which belong to
the group of approaches which seek to address the lack of fit between
marketing as it is currently practiced and the ecological and social realities of
the wider marketing environment (Belz & Peattie, 2009). Thus, green
marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product
modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as
modifying advertising.

Some scholars in the field of marketing management have attempted to study

green marketing. For example, most green marketing literature is strongly
based on the assumption that a consumer's environmental awareness is a pre-
condition for green purchasing. While following such a behaviouristic green
marketing both scholars and companies seem to have neglected that green
products are bought only if customers perceive the products as superior to
competitors’ offerings (Meyer, 2001). Polonsky (2001) tried to re-evaluate the
green marketing strategic approach. The author then argues that green
marketing is a complex tool that must be integrated across all organizational
areas and activities if it is to be successfully implemented and achieve long-
term benefits.

For Manrai et al. (1997), green advertising is the advertising that emphasizes the
environmental friendliness of the product. Attributes such as degradability, re-
cyclability, lower pollution, etc. are considered to be environmentally friendly.

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Joshu (2004) further states that the increasing environmental concerns of
consumers are leading to more information about the environmental
characteristics of products being made available by producers through what is
called "eco-labelling". Eco-labelling has thus become the medium promoting
both the production and consumption of products that are "more environment
friendly" than competing products available in the market.

Green marketing is in the focus of present marketing practice due to the pressure
that arise from inclined environmental awareness in the global climate change.
According to Kotler (2006), environmentalists are concerned with effects of
marketing on the environment and with the cost of serving consumer needs and
wants. They are concerned citizens, businesses and government agencies to
protect and improve people’s living environment. They are not against
marketing and consumption, they simply want people and organizations to
operate with more care for the environment. They stress and assert that the goal
of marketing should not be maximize consumption, consumer choice, or
consumer satisfaction, but rather to maximize life quality. And according to
them ‘life quality’ means not only the quantity and quality of consumer goods
and services, but also the quality of the environment.

Nowadays, Philip Kotler (2000) states that more and more companies are
adopting policies of environmental sustainability, which is management
approach that involves developing strategies that both sustain the environment
and produce profits for the company. This environmentalist movement is
concerned with protecting the natural environment which is needed as an input
by the marketer and that are affected by the marketing activities.

Strannengård (2000) argues in favour of the environmental strategy - phenomena

in the institutional environment become internalized and matched with existing

5
tools and solutions which have resulted in a business-driven environmental
strategy. However, the environmental strategy is not static, as the degree of
business-environment integration fluctuates over time. Presently, because of
different non-degradable packaging materials, the environment of our world
becomes washed-out. From the student researcher’s observations and the pieces
of information gained from the Ethiopian Environment Protection Authority
(EEPA), the level of awareness of green marketing practice on the part of the
business firms is not well-known in Ethiopian context. Because of the lack of
awareness of green marketing in the country, the packaging materials used by
different business firms are causing severe environmental damage.

Against this backdrop, there is a need for more research on the role of the natural
environment in marketing strategy and business performance. However, there
are no intensive and extensive studies on the practices of packaging and green
marketing management as such through the consumers’ perspective in the
Ethiopian context, according to the best knowledge of the researcher. Therefore,
this study is to assess the practice of packaging and its implication on green
marketing management at Sebeta Agro-Industry (Mama Dairy) P.L.C. which is
one of the pioneers in this agro- industry sector in the country.

Although the concern for packaging and green market management is growing,
the empirical marketing literature has been relatively silent about the integration
of environmental issues in marketing strategy and decision-making (Langerak,
1998).

There should be rational approach to and practice in packaging one’s product(s)

in service providing company. Marketing implies bringing together the needs
and wants of the consumer with the products and services that match them. In
this connection, the marketing manager should consider the marketing mix at

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least in terms of the product (i.e. the item or serve the company offers); and
positioning (which is brand or corporate identity of the product or service).

Product is anything that can satisfy need (which is state of deprivation of some
basic satisfaction) or want (i.e. desire for specific satisfier of need). The product
has such components as physical good, service and idea. Thus, the product is
really a via-media for service(s). Careful management of these components is
essential for the successful marketing of the product(s) in both long-term and
short-term marketing strategies of the company.

At this juncture, the concept of the traditional marketing mix appears to be worth
mentioning. This mix refers to those elements which the company controls and
uses to satisfy or to communicate with customer(s) (Zeithamal & Bitne, 1996).
The traditional marketing mix has components consisting of product, price,
place, and promotion.

The product (service offerings) is anything which a company offers to

customers that might satisfy a need (whether it is tangible or intangible)
(Palmer & Cole, 1995). The serve offerings can be both the tangible core
benefits of services and a secondary service offering that represents the tangible
and augmented elements. The secondary service offerings also illustrate the
additional benefits that the services offer to meet customers’ additional needs,
and serve to differentiate the offerings from the competitors’. With the
promotion service of the traditional marketing mix, there is a greater need to
emphasize the tangible elements of services like packaging, brand name,
corporate image, service delivery and service employees.

In this regard, the physical evidence that is the environment in which the
service provider delivers the service and where the customers and the company
interact, as we call any tangible component that facilitates performance of
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communication of the services. Most service companies combine the tangible
dimension with one or more of the other quality dimensions to create a service
strategy. Therefore, it can be argued that companies which do not incorporate
the tangible dimension in their quality strategy may fail to develop a good
marketing strategy.

Packaging as one of the tangible dimensions of the promotion services of the

traditional marketing mix has to consider the company’s immediate
environment and should be eco-labelled and eco-friendly. Thus, packaging
practice has implications for green marketing in any service providing firms.
The packaging practice has both positive and negative consequences in the
companies working environment. Hence, there is no single green marketing
strategy which is right for every company. Therefore, the companies should
follow one of the green marketing strategies such as “lean green,” “defensive
green,” “shaded green,” and “extreme green”. The customers would prefer to
choose a green product over one that is less friendly to the environment when
the product’s traditional attributes such as convenience, availability, price,
quality and performance are fulfilled.

In order to meet the above-stated objectives of the study, the researcher raised
questions such as: To what extent does the packaging of the Company perform
its intended functions? To what extent does the packaging practice in the
Company give due emphasis to green marketing? What are the major strategies
followed by the Company to make the packaging of its products eco-labelled
and eco-friendly? Therefore, in answering these questions, this study generally
aimed to assess the packaging practice of Sebeta Agro-Industry (Mama Dairy)
PLC and to examine its implications on green marketing. Specifically, it
intended to assess the attitude of customers towards packaging materials of the
Company which may have high negative impact on the green environment; and
8
to suggest how the Company may make the packaging materials eco-labelled
and eco-friendly. Thus, the study may contribute its share for saving our
country from depletion of natural resources and environmental degradation.

Literature Review
Different scholars in marketing management have attempted to define the
concept of packaging. According to Khanna (2002), packaging is defined as the
use of containers and parts, together with the decoration and labeling of a
product in order to contain, protect, and identify the merchandise and to
facilitate the use of products. Packaging starts from planning of a product. It
concentrates on formulating a design of the package and producing an
appropriate and attractive container for a product (Sherlekar, 2004). Kotler
(2006) also defines packaging as activities which involve designing and
producing the container or wrapper for a product. Therefore, the container itself
can act as a forceful though silent and colorful salesman or an effective
advertisement encouraging buying. From these definitions of packaging, one
can understand that packaging is more than simple packing and it is also a
marketing necessity.

There are some attributes of packaging to perform its intended functions.

Packages of products must fulfill different criteria depending on the product(s)
they contain. Sherlekar (2004) points out different attributes of a good package.
For him, a good package should protect the contents from breakage or spoilage,
be easy to open, dispense form and close, be safe to use, keep the product from
deteriorating, be of proper size and shape, be reusable, able to be recycled or
biodegradable, be economical and be available in the sizes appropriate to the
market segments served. As a medium of communication, a good package
should also fulfill attributes like attractiveness, prefect presentation of a
favourable image of the product, play the role of silent salesman, be reading
9
identifiable in a shopping situation, act as a unique selling proposition, should
have a clearly readable description of the contents, offer information on
assembly, preparation and use, communicate the benefits of the product to the
targeted market segment, and not be deceptive or misleading in size, contents,
etc. All these detail description of the product’s packaging criteria implicitly
have some sort of relationships with the issues of the product(s) being
environmental - friendly or eco-friendly in the light of green marketing.

The definition of green marketing is given by different marketing and related

field professionals in a way that is related to the long-run welfare of the society
and environmental conservation. Berkowitz et al. (2000) defines green
marketing as a marketing effort to produce, promote and reclaim
environmentally sensitive products. Lindguist and Sirgy also (2003: 123)
express their own views on the concept of green marketing as the development
and selling of products and services that are environmentally friendly.
Kyambalesa (2003), on the other hand, considers green marketing as an
obligation on the part of businesses to seek socially beneficial results along
with economically beneficial results in all their policies, decisions and
activities. When one analyzes these three definitions given to green marketing,
it can be understood that different authors use green marketing and societal
marketing interchangeably.

Kotler (2006) elaborates the concept of societal marketing as it questions

whether or not the pure marketing concept ignores possible conflicts between
consumers’ short-run wants and long-run welfare. That is, is a firm that
satisfies the immediate needs and wants of target markets always doing what’s
best for consumers in the long run? It holds that marketing strategy should
deliver value to customers in a way that maintains or improves well-being both
of the consumers and the society. To make his idea more concrete, Philip
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Kotler further cited an example of fast foods which are high in fat and salt,
which leads consumers to overeat and contributing to a national obesity
epidemic and also the products are wrapped in convenient packaging, which
leads to waste and pollution. In satisfying short-term consumers’ wants, the
highly successful fast-food chains may be harming consumers’ health and
causing environmental problems in the long-run.

Kotler as cited in S.M. JHA (2005), argues that organization’s task in societal
marketing is to determine the needs and wants of target market and to deliver
the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a
way that preserves or enhances that consumer’s and society’s well-being. From
these arguments, one can comprehend that the concept of social marketing
stresses and calls upon markets to consider the societal effect of their final
products and related packaging. In 2005, the same author informs that
marketers are socially obliged to balance the three considerations in
formulating the marketing policies, viz., company’s profits, consumer’s
satisfaction and public interests. Having said this, S.M. JHA states that
companies should consider the long-run customer’s satisfaction and social
interest rather than concentrating on only its profit,

In this regard, Kotler (2006) adduces that organizations should balance three
considerations, namely, company’s profits, satisfaction of consumer’s wants,
and society’s interest and welfare in setting their marketing strategies.

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 Society
(Human welfare)

Consumer Company
(Want Satisfaction) (Profits)

Figure 1. Marketing Practice in the Context of Social Marketing

Source: Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2006). Principle of marketing. P. 11-13.

Kotler gave an example of Johnson and Johnson Company’s experience and

success regarding marketing practice in the societal marketing context.
According to him, the Company’s concern for social interests mainly focuses
and stress on honesty, integrity and putting people before profits. Thus, the
Johnson and Johnson Company would rather take or prefer a big loss then
distribute a bad (hazardous) batch of its product.

In addition, S.M. JHA (2005) argues that even if an organization or a

company has the right to produce, its products should not be instrumental in
polluting the environment either in the short-run or in the long-run. However,
automobile, leather, cement, glass, steel and many other industries have failed
in assigning the weight-age to the environmental factor. According to the
same author, there is an attitudinal change in recent years even if it is at its
stage of infancy.

The emerging fast food industry packaging materials, which are made of
plastics, also have created numerous and critical problems in the environment.
Most of such business firms also use packaging as a motivational tool and
they use plastic materials for packaging- it is just to add attraction. But S.M.

12
JHA stresses that this kind of practice is not in tune with the defined
principles of social marketing.

Sherlekar (2003) similarly gives due emphasis to the concept and defines it as
an intelligent and objective concern for the welfare of society that limits or
prevents individual and corporate behaviour from destructive activities (e.g.,
monopoly power, unfair trade practices, and pollution of environment). For
him, such destructive activities may result in immediate profit to the business
firm(s), but the society canno0t tolerate these issues.

Packaging has its own functions based on its various types. According to
Berkowitz (1994), based on the benefits of packaging for the manufacturers,
retailers and to the ultimate consumers, there are three kinds of function of
packaging. These are: communication, functional and perceptual benefits.
Communication benefit of packaging is the information on it conveyed to the
consumer which is needed to satisfy legal requirements of product disclosure.
The functional benefit of packaging refers to the role of packaging related to
convenience, protection, and storage and shelf life. The benefit of packaging
with the perception created in the consumer’s mind.

Scholars in the field of study have come up with different views on functions
of packaging. Sherlekar (2004, p. 238) also considers the function of
packaging from the marketer’s point of view as a sales tool. It identifies the
maker, as well as the product and carries the brand name. Thus, it informs the
buyer about inner contents and how to use them and, finally, as the biggest
advertising and promotional tool.

Nowadays, Kotler (2006) stresses the function of packaging has become

broader and important marketing tool. Because of the increased competition,

13
packages must perform many sales tasks which range from attracting
attention to describing the product, and to making the sale.

Pillai and Bagevathi (2005) indicate some of the general functions of

packaging as an advertising medium in order to encourage re-purchases; to
facilitate retailers’ functions; to create product image and individuality; to
enable easy display; to protect the contents; to facilitate easy storing and
transporting; to easily identify the products; to help memory and recognition;
and to provide convenience, economy and adjustability.

As described in a Report prepared by the Consumer Goods Forum, even if the

fundamental role of packaging is to deliver the product to the consumer in
perfect condition, it serves a variety of other purposes like protecting (prevent
breakage, prevent spoilage, prevent contamination, tampering and theft and
increase shelf life); promotion (description of product, list of ingredients,
product features and benefits, and promotional messages and branding);
information (product identification, product preparation and village,
nutritional and storage date, safety warnings, contract information, opening
instructions and end of life management); convenience (product preparation
and serving, product storage and portioning); unitization (provision of
consumer units and provision of retail and transport units); and handling
(transport from producer to retailer point of sale display). Therefore,
packaging of one’s product(s) indicates multi-dimensional functions.

Scholars in the packaging discipline argue that here are various kinds of
packaging. Packaging can be primary package, secondary package and tertiary
package. . Primary packaging is also consumer packaging - what consumers sees
upon purchase of the product. Secondary packaging refers to grouping of several
consumer goods into one unit, usually a thin cardboard box or shrink wrap.
14
Specifically, secondary packaging refers to the following: (1) This is what the
retailer sees and handles before goods are placed on shelves; and (2) In discount
stores, consumers may also see the secondary packaging. Tertiary packaging or
transportation packaging includes all activities to ensure safe and efficient
delivery of goods. For industrial goods, tertiary packaging encompasses all
packaging activities aimed at protecting goods in shipment.

According to Kotler (2006), packaging can be generally categorized into

consumer packaging and industrial packaging. Consumer packaging refers to
kinds of package which are often based on marketing consideration in terms of
advertising or promoting the product through their attractive colors. In the world
of globalization, packages are playing a very important role in getting
competitive advantage in a competitive market. One may observe that firms
which produce and offer the same product to the market but use effective
packaging have getting competitive advantage over their rivals. Industrial
packaging (protective packaging) has more protective nature than promoting the
product. This kind of packaging is mostly used for those products which are
highly technical and expensive so as to protect them from damages since they
are very expensive to replace them.

For Pillai and Bagavathi (2005), there are around four kinds of packaging.
These are consumer package, family package, re-use package and multiple
packages. According to them, consumer package is a kind of package which
holds the required volume of product for the household consumption.
Concerning family package, when products are related in use and are of similar
quality, the firm makes the packages identical for all products by using
common feature on all the packages. In this type of packaging, system producer
uses similarity in packages i.e. material, appearance, method, etc. Re-use
package (dual package) is also a king of package which can be re-used for other
15
purposes after the product has been consumed. Multiple package: is a king of
packaging practice in which several units of a given products can be packaged
in one container. These kinds of packaging are considered in the study under
discussion.

There is a close relationship between packaging and green marketing. Sherlekar

(2004) confirms that the value of packaging will be based on the contribution it
gives to different aspects of the society under consideration. Therefore, these
contributions are measured based on the condition of products on the receipt by
the customer, the promotional and informative value of the package, the role of
package in physical distribution at all points in the marketing channel, and
environmental and ecological aspects of packaging. Thus, marketing
management should not only concentrate on package attractiveness, simplicity
to produce, easiness to store and to handle but should also give due emphasis on
environmental and ecological aspects of packaging.

Therefore, it can be argue that there is also relation between marketing activity
and society in which it is being carried out. For Pillai and Bagevathi (2005),
modern business must demonstrate social awareness or sensitivity and social
performance. Social responsibility means an intelligent and objective concern
for the welfare of society that limits or prevents corporate behaviour from
destructive activities. Society is concerned with the ecology and the need for
preserving the environment from further human pollution. Business and
industry are leading contributors to environmental pollution and thus packaging
is pollutant feature of marketing. In order to differentiate the brands and buyer
preferences, marketers use packaging for butter, cream, cheese etc. In addition,
disposable products due to marketing operations have their own contribution to
environmental pollution.

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There are different strategies of making packaging of products eco-friendly.
mentioned by a package, to be good must protect the contents, look attractive,
establish identity, have less cost, develop the interest to possess, arouse the
people to re-purchase, enhance the image of the brand, occupy less space, give
out a brief idea of the product , build confidence, have a clean look, look like
and asset, possess a status to display, minimize the saver’s job, resist soiling,
have trade characters, have label–pasted, have eye-catching look, be simple in
design, be convenient to handle and look like a fast seller (Pillai & Bagavathi,
2005).

Research Design and Methodology

The study used both quantitative and qualitative research designs to generate
quantitative and qualitative data from primary, as well as secondary sources.
Quantitatively, the student researcher employed descriptive sample survey
research method. It describes how various factors of the problem influence
other and shows the relationship/association/correlation between various
quantities. Descriptive survey research method is also a useful approach for
conceptualizing and describing the characteristic elements of any model and
their relationship to one another who, what, when and how). In addition, it is
useful to describe the characteristics of the study subjects and to estimate the
proportions of the population that have particular characteristics under
investigation.

The researcher, on the other hand, used qualitative research methods such as
semi-structured interviews with key informants, observations of the overall
activities of the Industry. Besides, the author engaged in intensive
documentary analyses of relevant published and unpublished documents,
including web-based files.

17
As the study was carried out in Sebeta town of the Central Ethiopia where the
Agro-Industry Company is situated and the target population is relatively
large, the researcher decided the sample size to be 200 subjects based on
available resources, as well as accessibility of the study area. However, the
researcher prepared and distributed a total of 250 structured questionnaires to
the sample respondents to manage wastage of the research tool successfully as
per the reference of Malhotera (2007, p. 339). The sampling techniques used
in the study were simple random sampling of the probability sampling
technique to select customers of the Industry or the users of its products
because the student researcher had no data on the exact size of them; and
volunteer sampling technique of non-probability sampling technique to
identify potential informants among the employees in the production divisions
and the managers of the Company.

Before the researcher continued to analyze the quantitative data collected, the
response rate had been calculated. First, a total of 250 copies of the
questionnaire were distributed to the consumers and respondents of those
products of the Company and they were given five days to answer the
questionnaire items. All in all, a total of 202 questionnaires were collected
back from the respondents, representing a response rate of 80.08%. However,
two of them were found to lack adequate data. As a total of 200
questionnaires were enough to represent the target population of the study,
only this size of the tool was finally used in the actual data analysis.

In the study, the researcher employed both quantitative and qualitative data
analysis techniques. The quantitative data were first checked and verified for
completeness and then they were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package
for Social Science) software Version 20 of descriptive statistical techniques

18
such as using frequency distribution consisting of frequencies, and
percentages; measures of central tendency and dispersion; measures of
association and relationship; and others. The qualitative data were analyzed
using thematic analysis after they had been checked for their completeness.
Finally, the outputs of the quantitative data analyses together with themes
identified in qualitative data analyses were drawn and used while writing up
the final version of the research report.

Results and Discussion

This part of the paper is organized into 10 sections based on the specific
objectives. The results of the study focused on general socio-demographic and
economic characteristics of the respondents, most frequently used products of
the Company and purchasing frequency; and issues related to general
packaging functions. In addition, the findings of the study deal with correlation
and reliability test, green marketing related topics; the respondents’ knowledge
of packaging practice and green marketing; relationship between age and being
informed about eco-friendly and bio-degradability; educational status and
being informed about eco-friendly packaging; and correlation between
biodegradability and eco-friendly of packaging materials.

General Characteristics of the Respondents

The respondents in the study were found to be male, young adult dominated
with high degree of variability in the distribution of their age. The findings of
the study presented in Table 1 revealed that more than half of respondents
(53%) were found to be males, while the females accounted for 47% of the
study subjects. More than half of the sampled customers of the Company
(54%) were found to be in the age bracket of 33-55 years, followed by the age
group 26-32 (22%). The 200 sampled customers of the Company were found

19
to have a mean age of 37.31 years and a median age of 35 years. For the age
variable, the standard deviation value shows that its average deviation
(dispersion) from the mean was about 12 years. In the study, it was found that
the subjects had a minimum age 19 and the maximum of 72 years. Therefore,
the Company’s customers are significantly male adults, but they there is some
sort of variability among them which may make the customers a bit
heterogeneous in terms of their characteristics under consideration.

As shown in the first table below, out of the total sample respondents included
in the analysis, the significant majority of them were found in the wedlock
situation. A total of 151 subjects claimed married (75.5%) and were found to
have family size which ranged from 3 to 4 persons in the household in the
study (44%) and co-habited with one or two children (44%) under one roof.
These show that most of the respondents included in the study are building
block of the society and reflect the nature households in modern cities where
one may find nuclear family consisting of married couple and their one or two
children.

All of the participants in the survey are literate people who have already
achieved different levels of education. Sixty-one percent of the respondents
graduated from a university or college constituting of 75(38%) already earned
undergraduate diplomas or degrees, while the remaining 45(23%) received
post- graduate degrees. However, only thirty-nine percent of them were found
to attend their schooling from primary education to preparatory education
levels of the current Ethiopian education system. Based on these findings of
the study, one can deduce that the Company’s customers are well-educated
who are believed to be responsible for and have a responsibility to know about
and practice all issues related to social responsibility and green marketing.

20
Table1. Descriptive Statistics of Soci0-demograhic and Economic
Characteristics of the Respondents (n=200)
Variables f %
Gender
Male 105 53.0
Female 95 47.0
Age category
19 - 25 34 17.0
26 - 32 44 22.0
33 - 55 108 54.0
56+ 14 7.0
Marital Status
Single 41 20.5
Married 151 75.5
Separated 2 1.0
Widowed 6 3.0
Family size
<2 52 26.0
3-4 88 44.0
5-6 41 20.5
7 - 10 19 9.5
Number of Children in
Household
0 49 24.5
1-2 88 44.0
3-5 52 26.0
6+ 11 5.5
Educational Status
Primary education (grades 15 7.0
1-8)
Secondary first cycle 35 17.0
education (grades 9-10)
Preparatory education 30 15.0
(grades 11-12)
University or college
graduates
. Undergraduate degrees 75 38.0
. Postgraduate degrees 45 23.0
SOURCE: Own survey results, 2012

21
The customers of the Sebeta Agro-Industry PLC have very greatly varied
monthly household incomes. They earned monthly income which ranged from
Eth. Birr 1,000.00 to Eth. Birr 25,000. As their monthly earnings vary greatly,
on average, the respondents in the survey were found to earn an amount of Eth.
Birr 4,691.29. These show that majority of the respondents are in a better
position to buy the Company’s various kinds of products as they are not in
short of hand than other sections of the local community.

Product and Purchasing Frequency

The significant majority of the respondents (78%) very often or often
purchase and consume the Mama Company’s products. Eighty-seven percent
of the Company’s customers constituted as the category of those customers
who had been using Mama Milk more frequently than that of Mama fruit
juice which accounted for only 13%. As indicated below in Figure 1, one can
observe that most of the customers have had very frequent purchasing
behaviour. Thus, purchasing behaviour and frequency of those customers of
the Sebeta Agro-Industry Company indicate that they have shown frequent
preference for Mama Milk product to other products of the Company.

Figure1. Purchasing Frequency of the Respondents

SOURCE: Outputs of own data analysis, 2012

22
 General Packaging, Green marketing and Customers Awareness

In order to perform its intended functions, the Sebeta Agro-Industry

Company’s packages must fulfill such attributes as protecting the contents
from breakage or spoilage, be safe to use and keep the product from
deteriorating (Sherlekar, 2004). When the sample respondents were
presented with general questions examining their attitude towards the
packaging practice, as well as the materials used to pack its products in
relation to its operational environment, this study presents its findings in
Table 2. As illustrated in Table 2, the respondents' attitude towards the
general packaging practice as well as its functions in relation to the
environment were assessed and measured using seven survey items. The
distribution of responses to these items reveals that the customers sampled
expressed.

In three of the seven items, a considerable proportion of the customers disagreed

(“slightly disagree” through “disagree”) that the Company had been responsible
for packaging practice which considered green marketing issues (28.0%) and
(45.5%) of the respondents showed “slightly disagree” and “disagree” attitude
towards to the general packaging practice as well as the materials used for the
purpose, respectively. This is so because the sampled customers stated that the
package could well protect the products against all adverse influences and physical
damage, had believed the packaging materials could not protect the products
against all adverse influences and physical damage, and were found to agree on
the proposition that the trustworthiness of the products’ packaging was safe to
protect the product from any type of biological contamination.

23
 Table 2. General Packaging Functions Related Issues
%

Functions of Packaging SD D SLD N SLA A SA

The package can well protect product against all 5.5 25.0 28.0 20.0 6.0 13.0 2.5
adverse influences.

The package can protect the product from - 0.5 5.0 23.5 23.0 31.0 17.0
biological contamination.

The package can protect the product against 14.5 45.5 21.5 5.0 3.5 7.0 3.0
physical damage

The package carries correct information about the - - 0.5 23.5 12.0 21.5 42.5
product

The package carries enough information about 1.0 13.5 18.5 21.5 3.0 15.0 27.5
the product.

The packaging materials are attractive 0.5 12.0 32.5 31.0 1.0 18.0 50

The packaging materials are suitable for - - - - 0.5 28.5 71.0

transportation

SD= Strongly Disagree SLD= Slightly Disagree SLA= Slightly Agree SA= Strongly Agree

D= Disagree N= Neutral (neither A= Agree

disagree nor agree

SOURCE: The author’s own survey results, 2012

In the same framework, marketing professionals argue that labeling has been
giving information about the product(s) and what the product(s) will do for the
buyer (Sherlekar, 2004). Concerning the customers’ confidence for contents of the
labeled information, less than half of the respondents but reasonable proportion
(about 43%) agreed on the inclusiveness of adequate and correct pieces of
information on the package about the product.

24
Figure 2. Mama Milk Packaging
SOURCE: Prepared by the author, 2012

Figure 3. Mama Juice Packaging

SOURCE: Prepared by the author, 2012

Moreover, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, the packaging material of Mama Milk

and Mama Juice gives enough information about the product, its content and
volume, who and where the product is produced and also how to use it safely
in both Amharic and English respectively. The packaging material, on the
other hand, connotes product quality and well designed and attractive packages
are an ever-present self salesman for retailers and consumers, but poorly
designed packages can cause headaches for consumers and lose sales for the
company (Berkowitz, et al., 1986; Kotler, 2006; Pillai & Bagavathi, 2005).
25
Exactly half of the sampled customers strongly agreed on the attractiveness of
the packaging material, followed by the respondents’ neutral attitude (31.0%)
and slight disagreement (32.5%) on the attractiveness of the package.
Therefore, the customers of the Company have mixed attitude towards the
package materials of those products, but their attitude partly gets skewed to get
convinced by their attractiveness.

As many available pieces of literature indicated, one of the features and

functions of package is to be used as a tool for physical distribution or
transportation (Sherlekar, 2004) and to make the product accessible for the
targeted market. With regard to transportation related functions of the
packaging used, almost all of the respondents (about 99.5%) agreed on the
easy transportation of the products from one place to another. A significant
majority of the customers (71.0%) strongly agreed on the suitability of the
package for transportation.

It can therefore be deduced that the functions of general package practice by

the Company are perceived as practices which cannot protect its products
against all adverse influences and physical damage. However, the two products
of the Company have reliable and safe packages so that the milk and juice
cannot get contaminated from any types of biological agent. These packages
are also informative in terms of the product types and what the products will
do for the buying customers. The Company’s customers, in contrast, show
mixed but positive attitude towards the package materials and practices of both
Mama Milk and Mama Juice products.

26
Reliability Test and Correlation
Reliability Test of Items

After the researcher has analyzed those items in the factor analysis, the
outputs are presented in Table 3 below. The values in the column labelled
Corrected Item-total Correction were found to be greater than .3. This
indicates good internal consistency and identifies item 6 as a potential
problem because its value was found to be a bit higher than the overall
Cronbach’s α. Here, the values in the column labeled Cronbach’s alpha if
Item is Deleted also indicate that none of the items would increase the
reliability if they were deleted because almost all values in this column are
less than the overall reliability of .891.

Table 3. Item-Total Statistics

Item-Total Statistics
Scale Mean if Scale Variance if Corrected Squared Multiple Cronbach's
Item Deleted Item Deleted Item-Total Correlation Alpha if Item
Correlation Deleted
1 20.09 49.630 .829 .960 .859
2 19.89 47.827 .801 .928 .864
3 21.58 61.280 .629 .723 .883
4 21.81 63.934 .596 .700 .889
5 20.11 52.175 .784 .941 .865
6 20.93 54.160 .548 .373 .894
7 20.80 55.749 .671 .877 .876
8 20.98 59.336 .664 .880 .879
1=Informed eco-friendly 4= Waste Packaging 7= Disposal As per
Packaging 5= High Negative Impact Instruction
2= Informed Biodegradable 6= Prefer Eco friendly 8= Company awareness
Packaging Products creation
3= Size Packaging
SOURCE: Outputs of own data analysis, 2012

The last column presents the value that Cronbach's α would be improved if
that particular item was deleted from the scale. One can deduce that the

27
removal of any item except item 6 would result in a lower Cronbach's α.
Therefore, almost all items are retained since such efforts will not increase the
reliability of the items. Thus, it is not advisable to remove those items in the
questionnaire. However, the removal of item 6 may lead to a small
improvement in Cronbach's α – because the value of this item in this column
is less than the overall reliability of .891. These values lead us to deduce that
even if one gets a small improvement in the value of Cronbach's α by
removing item 6, it will not be advisable to discard the item because of the
moderate and positive correlation with other variables. Generally, almost all
items in the questionnaire have high reliabilities.

Table 4 below shows data related to reliability or internal consistency between

those subscales designed to evaluate the respondents’ personal know how
about green marketing and packaging practice of the Company if one of the
subscales was deleted in order to improve their reliability.. As one can see in
Table 4 for the eight (8) subscales indicated below and those subscales in the
questionnaire which were designed to measure the reliability of those scales on
the personal know how about green marketing and packaging practice, the
overall value of Cronbach's α= .891. This value indicates a high level of
internal consistency between the subscales (factors). Thus, all those subscales
had high reliabilities.

Table 4. Reliability Statistics

Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha Number of Items
.891 8
SOURCE: Own survey output, 2012

28
Correlation

Table 5 depicts the correlation between those variables designed to evaluate

the respondents’ personal know how about marketing and packaging green
practice of the Company.

As we can see from Table 5, there was a positive and strong relationship
between being informed about eco-friendly packaging and biodegradable
packaging (r = .961; P= .01), between being informed about eco-friendly
packaging and being aware of those packages which had had high negative
impact on the green environment (r =.966; P=0.01) between being informed
about bio-degradable packaging practice and knowing those packages which
had had high negative impact on the green environment (r = .941, P= .01)
between being worried about the size of waste material of packaging when
buying the products, and being worried about the waste of packaging material
when buying the products (r = .813, P= .01), between awareness creation
which could have protected the environment from degradation and the
respondents’ preference to buy products which had had eco-friendly label(s)
and language indicating that the packaging material was found to be
environment friendly (r = .930; P= .01).

Furthermore, as one can observe from the Table 5, all variables were found to
have a positive and greater than .3 correlation coefficients. Thus, this
correlation coefficient indicates that there are positive and moderate
relationships between those variables on personal knowledge of green
marketing and those of packaging practice. These correlation coefficient
values show that if one is well-informed about eco-friendly packaging
materials, he/she will have positive and strong chance to know about
biodegradable packaging materials, and also he/she will give more attention
29
to the size and waste material on the package, its negative impact and will
know how to dispose the wastage of the package than the previous times. In
addition, if the Company engages in creating awareness to its actual
customers of those issues, environmental degradation may be reduced to some
extent.
Table 5. Personal Knowledge of Green Marketing and Packaging Practice
Pearson 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Correlation

1 1

2 .961** 1

3 .470** .463** 1

4 .474** .466** .813** 1

5 .966** .941** .410** .401** 1

6 .410** .399** .449** .447** .387** 1

7 .485** .471** .523** .399** .434** .532** 1

8 .439** .412** .561** .419** .392** .543** .930** 1

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

1=Informed eco-friendly packaging 3= Size Packaging 6= Prefer Eco friendly Products

2= Informed Biodegradable Packaging 4= Waste Packaging 7= Disposal As per Instruction

5= High Negative Impact 8= Company awareness creation

SOURCE: Own study findings, 2012

Green Marketing Related Issues

Table 6 below reveals respondents' answers to question which intends to

examine whether the packaging practice and material of the case company
consider and takes into account the green marketing and societal
responsibility related issues.

30
Since a number of scholars like Pillai and Bagevathi (2005, pp.387-390),
Sherlekar (2003, p. 552), S.M. JHA (2005, pp. 9-14) and Kotler (2006, pp.
11-13) have articulated that every company as it has the right to produce the
product, they should give more emphasis for societal interest and for not
polluting the green environment. Besides, these scholars argue, some of the
characteristics of eco-friendly packaging are to be reusable, refillable,
recyclable and biodegradable.

From the quantitative data gathered and summarized in Table 6 above, about
half of the respondents thought that the packaging material of the products
had been neither biodegradable (49.0%) nor eco-friendly (49.5%), nor
reusable (100.0%), nor refilled (100.0%), nor recycled (54.0%). Moreover,
those packaging materials could not be reduced (100.0%), but the majority of
them (73.5%). agreed that the Company had already put clear instructions on
how to dispose the package materials. From these empirical pieces of
evidence, one may deduce that although the packaging materials used were
not found to be biodegradable and eco-friendly, the MAMA Company had
tried its best to overcome these drawbacks by putting instructions on how to
dispose the package materials as shown in figures 2 and 3.

Therefore, the consumers of those products are somehow aware of those

instructions written on the packaging material. The physical observations of
some products’ labels also confirmed this fact. When one sees the package of
the juices, it says that the product is eco-friendly. However, the label of the
milk packaging was found to lack such a kind of symbol. From this empirical
evidence, one can argue that the packaging material of milk product by its
nature is not eco-friendly and biodegradable. In addition, consumers didn’t
think that the juice packaging material had not been eco-friendly and

31
biodegradable even if the Company tagged a symbol for an eco-friendly and
a biodegradable product.

Personal know how about Green Marketing and Packaging

Table 7 illustrates the sampled respondents' responses to a question designed

to examine whether or not the respondents have know how about issues
related to green marketing and packaging. As illustrated in Table 7, about
half of the respondents (49.5%) were found not to be well-informed about
eco-friendly packaging. However, only ten percent of the respondents were
strongly agree on their strong knowledge about bio-degradable packaging
materials. Therefore, the majority of them were not well-informed about bio-
degradable packaging materials as it was found that only 2.5% of the
respondents had disposed those packages which have high negative impact
on the green environment as per the instructions on the package.

In the same framework, almost all of the sampled respondents (96.0%)

were not worried about the size and waste of packaging material when
buying those products. In addition, they adduced that they had no ideas on
whether or not those packages have high negative impact on the green
environment. Thus, these customers of the Company failed to give due
emphasis to buy products which have eco-friendly labeled in a language
which expressed that the product is environmentally friendly. The same
respondents argued that the Company had not work to create awareness of
such hot issues which, in turn, may contribute to a certain extent in the
local community’s efforts to protect their environment from being
degraded.

32
Table 6. Green Marketing Related Issues

%
Items SD D SLD N SLA A SA
Packages of the Company are 5.0 27.5 16.5 15.0 10.5 15.5 10.0
biodegradable
Packaging material of the Company 5.5 27.0 17.0 19.5 13.5 13.5 4.0
are eco-friendly
Company puts instructions on how 0.0 5.0 7.0 14.5 24.5 35.0 14.0
to dispose the package
Packages of the Company are 95.0 5.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Reusable for other purpose
Packages of the Company can be 99.5 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Refilled again.
Packages of the Company can be 9.0 9.5 35.5 32.0 14.0 0.0 0.0
Recycled.
The packages material of the 70.0 30.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Company can be Reduced in size
from the existing one without
affecting the product.
SD= Strongly Disagree SLD= Slightly Disagree SLA= Slightly SA= Strongly
D= Disagree N= Neutral Agree Agree
A= Agree

SOURCE: Own survey results, 2012

Three survey items were used to measure customers’ knowledge of being

informed about eco-friendly and biodegradable packaging of the Company
under investigation. As shown in Table 8, the distribution of responses to
these items reveals that the customers sampled expressed their awareness of
being informed about informed about eco-friendly and biodegradable
packaging.

33
Table 7. Personal know how about Green Marketing and Packaging
%

Items SD D SLD N SLA A SA

Well informed about eco-friendly packaging 5.5 27.0 17.0 19.5 13.5 13.5 4.0

Well informed about bio-degradable 5.0 27.5 16.5 15.0 10.5 15.5 10.0
packaging

Worried about the size of packaging material 23.5 50.0 14.0 12.0 0.5 0.0 0.0
waste when buying the products

Worried about the waste of packaging 26.0 59.0 11.0 4.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
material when buying the products.

Know those packages which have high 0.5 32.5 17.5 19.0 15.0 14.0 1.5
negative impact on the green environment.

Dispose of those packages which have high 10.0 41.5 11.0 24.5 10.5 0.0 2.5
negative impact on the green environment as
per the instruction on the package.

Prefer to buy products which have eco- 8.5 48.0 12.5 25.5 5.5 0.0 0.0
friendly label and language indicating that it
is environments friendly.

The company creates awareness which can 10.0 41.5 11.0 37.5 0.0 0.0 0.0
protect the environment form degradation.

SD = Strongly SLD = Slightly SLA=Slightly Agree SA = Strongly Agree

Disagree Disagree A = Agree
D = Disagree N = Neutral

SOURCE: Own survey findings, 2012

34
Table 8. Correlations between Age and being informed about eco-
friendly and biodegradable packaging

1 2 3

1 Pearson Correlation 1 .326** .338**

Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000
2 Pearson Correlation .326** 1 .961**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000
3 Pearson Correlation .338** .961** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

1= Age of the respondents
2= being informed about eco-friendly packaging
3= being informed about biodegradable packaging

Source: Own survey results, 2012

Therefore, as the correlations coefficient1 between age and being informed

about eco-friendly and biodegradable packaging were found to be 0.326 and
0.338 at 0.01 significant level respectively. The responses that the researcher
would get from the respondents through the use of the questionnaire may be
believed to be good enough to generalize or infer to the total population. Age
of the customers was found to be positively related to being informed about
eco-friendly packaging with a Pearson correlation coefficient of r = .326 and
the significance value was less than .01 (.01 as indicated by the double
asterisk after the coefficient). This significance value tells us that the
probability of getting a correlation coefficient this big in a sample of 200
people if the null hypothesis were true (there was no relationship between
these variables) is, in fact, very low (close to zero). Hence, one can gain

1
0 < |r| < .3 weak correlation
0.3 < |r| < .7 moderate correlation
|r| > 0.7 strong correlation
35
confidence that there is a genuine relationship between age and being
informed about eco-friendly packaging.

The criterion for significance is usually set at 05. The correlation matrix
output also shows that age was found to be positively correlated to the
probability of the respondent being informed about biodegradable packaging
with the Pearson’s correlation coefficient of r = .338, which is also
significant at p < .01. Finally, being informed about eco-friendly packaging
appears to have strong positive relationship to being informed about
biodegradable packaging, r = .961, p < .01. In general, all of the findings
mean that as the respondent’s age increases, one’s chance of being informed
about eco-friendly packaging and about biodegradable packaging increases.
In conclusion, as age increases, the sampled customer’s probability of being
informed about eco-friendly and biodegradable packaging increases.
Therefore, there are complex interrelationships among those three variables.

Educational level and being informed about eco-friendly and

biodegradable packaging

Table 9 presents data related to correlation between educational level of the

respondents’ and being informed about eco-friendly and biodegradable
packaging materials. The results are presented as below.

As shown in the table below, there is a strong positive relationship between

educational level of the respondents and their being informed about eco-
friendly packaging (r= .798, p=.01) and being informed about biodegradable
packaging (r =0.797, p=0.01). This shows that the sample respondent’s
knowledge about eco-friendly and biodegradable packaging materials have
strong and positive correlation with his/her educational level achievement.

36
Table 9. Correlation between Educational Level and being Informed
about Eco-friendly and Biodegradable Packaging

Pearson Correlation Education Informed eco-friendly Informed

Packaging Biodegradabl
e Packaging

Education 1
Informed eco-friendly Packaging .798** 1
Informed Biodegradable Packaging .797** .961** 1

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

SOURCE: Own study findings, 2012

For curiosity purpose, it is worth considering whether or not there is

correlation between being informed about eco-friendly and biodegradable
packaging material used by the Company through responses generated from
the sample respondents. The findings of the study are illustrated in a table as
shown below.

Table 10. Correlation between Biodegradability and Eco-friendly of the

Packaging Material

Biodegradable Eco-friendly
Biodegradable Pearson 1 .535**
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
**
Eco-friendly Pearson .535 1
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

SOURCE: Own study, 2012

37
As illustrated in Table 10, the Pearson correlation coefficient for those
questions related to biodegradability and eco-friendly of the packaging
material was found to be .535 at a significant level of .001. Therefore, based
on these findings, one can deduce that there is a moderate positive
relationship between being informed about eco-friendly and biodegradable
packaging material. Thus, if the Company or any other the responsible body
for awareness creation in the Company works towards producing eco-
friendly and biodegradable packaged products, it can indirectly reduce the
negative effects of the packages on the green environment.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Conclusion

This study has presented assessment of packaging practice and its

implication on green marketing at Sebeta Agro-Industry (Mama) Private
Limited Company in Oromia Region of the South-West section of Ethiopia.
Cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative data on packaging practice and
on other aspects of green marketing such as knowledge of packaging
practice, frequently used products produced by the Company, issues related
to general packaging functions, to eco-friendly, bio-degradability, and to
packaging material(s) were used as inputs. The findings of the study show
there are heterogeneous customers composed of wed-locked, moderate
family size, young adult dominance with high degree of variability among
the customers in different wealth-ranks, educational achievements and
capabilities of buying the MAMA’s products that, in turn, show some level
of social responsibility and concern for green environment.

These customers of the Company very often purchase and consume different
types of its products. However, the same customers show their disagreement

38
with the general packaging practice and the materials being used for the
packaging purpose. The Company, in contrast, uses informative packaging
materials regarding the products, their ingredients, volume, producer, place
of its production, and how to use it safely in both Amharic and English.

There is mixed attitude towards the general quality and attractiveness of the
packaging materials. These attitudes vary from strongly agree (50.0%) to
slightly disagree (32.5%) on the attractiveness of the package.

The Company’s packed products are suitable and easy for transportation.
However, the functions of the Company’s general packaging practice are
perceived by its customers as practices which cannot protect them against all
adverse influences and physical damage, except the milk and the juice
products. The packages are also informative in terms of the product types
and what these items will do for the buying customers of the Company. The
Company’s customers, on the contrary, show mixed but positive attitude
towards the packaging practices and materials of those packed fluid
products.

Those reliability test items, in this study, have good internal consistency.
Nevertheless, the removal of any items in the scale used to measure the
issues under investigation but items 6 do not increase their reliability. Thus,
it is not advisable to remove those items except item 6 in order to bring a
small improvement in Cronbach’s α. There is a high level of internal
consistency between the subscales (factors) considered in the study.

Those customers who are well-informed and become aware of the

importance of eco-friendly packaging and biodegradability packaging may
develop concerns for green environment and act accordingly in their daily
routines of using and disposing of the products. In addition, such a level of
39
awareness together with the Company’s effort of creating awareness may
lend their helping hands in reducing the extent of environmental degradation.

There is no significant evidence on whether or not the packaging materials

for the Company’s products are biodegradable, eco-friendly, reusable,
refilled and recycled. Moreover, the packaging materials cannot be reduced
into any form albeit there are well-engraved instructions on how to dispose
the packaging materials employed are not biodegradable and eco-friendly,
the Company has tried its best to overcome these drawbacks by putting vivid
instructions on how to properly dispose the packaging materials. This holds
true for packaging materials of the milk and juice products.

Nowadays, the local people have been engaged in protecting their

environment and natural resources. These locality specific efforts may be
encroached upon and become endangered from the failure of the Company’s
customers to buy eco-friendly labeled products and also from lack of attempt
to create awareness of them about environmental degradation on the part of
the producing Company.

Older customers, among the Company’s customers, do have higher level of

awareness and are found to be being informed about eco-friendly and
biodegradable packaging than their counterparties. Thus, as the customers’
age increases, these customers may get the probability of being informed
about the practice of eco-friendly and biodegradable packaging increases.

In this empirical study, there is strong positive relationship between the

educational achievements of the Company’s clients and their chance of being
informed about eco-friendly and biodegradable packaging of different types
of its products. Those customers who have secured graduate level degrees

40
are more informed about eco-friendly and biodegradable packaging than
those who are bachelor’s degree and diploma holders.

Therefore, any effort(s) towards raising awareness of the Company’s

responsible body or customers about the paramount importance of being
informed about eco-friendly and biodegradable packaging materials and
practice, packed products would indirectly reduce the negative effects of the
package on the green environment in the Company’s operating areas.

This study has been arguing, by way of conclusion, that the packaging
practice of the Company has multi-dimensional implications which have
touched upon issues related to packaging practice and green marketing
management such as socio-demographic and economic characteristics of the
customers(particularly their age and educational level achievements), and
their frequent purchasing capacity, the most frequently bought and used
products of the Company, general packaging functions, the customers’
knowledge of the relationship between packaging practice in the light of
being well-informed about eco-friendly and biodegradable packaging
material(s) and proper disposal practice through proper awareness creation
endeavours on a continuous basis.

Recommendations

It is recommended, based on those major findings and the conclusions

drawn, that the Company develops an official marketing policy and strategy
regarding the use of its products in different contexts and their disposal
practice in South-East Addis Ababa. The policy and strategy should clearly
recommend the following:

41

Since the packaging material connotes a product quality and a well-
designed and attractive package is an ever-present self salesman for
retailer and consumers (Berkowitz et al, 1986: 340; Pillai & Bagavathi,
2005: 161-163) and poorly designed packages can cause headaches for
consumers and lost sales for the company (Kotler, 2006: 244), the
Company should work hard on making the packaging material and its
design more attractive.

According to Sherlekar (2004: 242), labeling gives information about the
product and what the product will do for the buyer. Thus, the Company
should work with high concentration on all issues related labeling of the
packaging material.

In order to perform its intended function, packages of the products must
fulfill such attributes as protecting the contents from breakage or
spoilage, be safe to use and keep the product from deteriorating
(Sherlekar, 2004: 238) so that the Company can design the package in
such a way that it can protect the product against all adverse influences,
physical damage and biological contamination.

As many pieces of literature point out, one of the features and functions
of package is to be used as a tool for physical distribution/transportation
(Sherlekar, 2004: 237-241) and to make the product accessible for the
targeted market. As a result, the Company should design its package to
be more suitable for transportation and handling by its customers from all
walks of life in the local communities.

Since a number of scholars (e.g. Pillai & Bagevathi, 2005: 387-390);
Sherlekar, 2003: 552; JHA, 2005: 9-14; Kotler, 2006:11-13), have
articulated, every company as it has the right to produce the product; the
company should give more emphasis for societal interest and for not
polluting the green environment. As some of the characteristics of eco-
42
 friendly packaging are to be reusable, refillable, recyclable and
biodegradable, the Company should make its packaging material which,
in turn, constitutes these characteristics. And the same Company should
indicate how to dispose the packaging material in different contexts.

Because there is a positive and strong relationship between awareness
creation (which can protect the environment from degradation and
preference to buy products which have eco-friendly label and language
indicating that it is environmentally friendly), the MAMA Company
should also work on issues directly related to awareness creation in close
collaboration with other concerned bodies such as offices at district and
sub city levels in Addis Ababa.

Finally, the MAMA Company should create enabling environment and
develop plausible as well as viable mechanisms for monitoring proper
implementation of the policy and strategy recommended in partnership
with Addis Beauty and Greening Environment at different levels in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

43
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